Fog
by Onezumi Daisuke
Summary: Yugi finds himself being followed by a mystious fog. What could it possibly mean?


**Fog - A Yu-Gi-Oh Fanfiction by Onezumi-Daisuke**

Sooo… while trying to continue my plan for Homecoming, this came into my head instead. So, I wrote it out, and I dunno, I kinda like it. Let me know if you like it or not, or if I made any horrendous mistakes that I didn't catch. Hope you like it. : )

The doorway glowed brilliantly; the blinding light flowing out from the realm of the afterlife.

Yami strode purposefully forward, giving a thumbs-up to his modern-era friends. They'd already made proclamations of continuing friendship, throughout the eras, and he was thankful. As he stepped closer to the breach, his attire shifted to that of his ancient heritage.

His crown glinted and cape billowed in the warm breeze emanating from the door, bringing with it the scents of Egypt – warm sand, stone blocks, burning incense.

He was going home.

Yugi stopped at the crosswalk on the way home, shuffling the grocery bags in his arms.

It'd already been six months. Six long months since Yami had left for the afterlife. Without his other half Yugi's life had become much quieter, more dull.

He hadn't had to fight to save the world at all in the last six months. There were still random people who would challenge him, attempting to take away his title, King of Games. Unfortunately he found himself caring less and less. He was thinking of just throwing a game to be done with it all, but couldn't quite bring himself to do so.

He and Yami had worked so hard to gain that title, even as they fought off evil entities at every turn. It'd be a shame to just throw away all that effort for nothing.

Yugi shook his head and started walking again, realizing there were no cars blocking his path. He needed to stop dwelling on Yami. His darker half, the former Pharaoh, had moved on. Yugi needed to let him go; let him rest in peace. After five-thousand-plus years, he deserved it.

He would just have to move on with his life. On his own.

Yugi continued his way home, never noticing the slight fog that was spreading out from the street corner where he'd been waiting.

There were several more instances of strange, lurking fog over the next few days. Yugi had noticed eventually, but was never able to ask anyone's opinion about it, as he always seemed to be alone when it came. He'd started to feel uneasy.

The fog would completely overtake the ground at times, rolling in waves over nearby parked cars. The murky clouds even rolled themselves up the stairs and into the front entryway to his school once. Sometimes he swore he could feel some kind of emotional presence within the low-lying clouds; an emotion he could never quite put his finger on.

So Yugi had become increasingly uneasy about the strange, emotional fog.

He was currently seated at his desk in his upstairs bedroom. Several history and reference books were strewn open as he tried to compile their information into a cohesive term paper. He couldn't afford to let his grades slip now – not if he wanted to get into a decent college after graduating.

As he continued to weed out pieces of information, a sudden chill overtook him, shaking him from his thoughts.

Rubbing his arms for warmth, he looked around his room. How did it get so cold all of a sudden? He'd been fine moments ago… The small heater was still running in the corner; Yugi could hear the fan inside whirring away.

Then he saw it.

Through the window and the darkness he could just make out the wispy tendrils of fog as it passed over the grounds outside. There wasn't a street light on this side of the house, so the dim light from the curb was all he had, but even still he was certain.

Whatever this strange fog was, it was now right outside his window, clinging to the ground below, calling to him with its eerie emotions.

Yugi's breath quickened as he leaned closer to the glass. It looked like tendrils of it had started to climb up the side of the building. What would he do if it reached him? He didn't have any of Yami's powers to help defend himself anymore. How would he take on a supernatural being now?

The thing below was calling out to him, the weight of it almost painful. He still couldn't make out the feelings. Was that anger? Or maybe sadness?

Whatever it was, Yugi was afraid. He could never bring himself to get any closer, but now, as it inched forward, he couldn't run away either.

Several minutes passed with Yugi standing there, nearly hyperventilating as the fog drew closer still. Then, without warning, it drew back.

The emotions died down as the fog withdrew into itself. It slinked back down the wall, growing fainter, until there was nothing left of it before him.

Yugi slowly calmed and sat back in his chair again. Knowing he wouldn't get anymore work done that night, he changed clothes and climbed into his bed. He spent the next few hours tossing and turning, trying not to think of how the fog could overtake him. It was the wee hours of the morning by the time he actually fell asleep.

The next day was actually supposed to be pretty fun for Yugi. Since it was a Sunday, there was no school, so he was supposed to run the store for a couple hours for his grandpa, then watch a movie with Joey when he came over. Which sounded great… except he kept nodding off. There was one particularly irritated customer who thought he should have been more attentive, but he was just too tired to care.

He'd just fallen asleep on the couch in the living room when Joey showed up. So they played a couple games, all of which were much closer scoring than normal, until Grandpa announced that dinner was ready.

Afterwards, the two teens sat down to watch their classic horror movie; Yugi barely made it ten minutes before falling asleep again.

"Geeze, Yug," Joes complained. "Ya slept thru tha' whole ting." He reclined across his half of the couch.

"I'm sorry, Joey," Yugi said as he replaced the dvd back into its protective case. "I couldn't sleep last night, and it's really catching up to me." The shorter man rubbed his eye as he walked back to his seat, effectively convincing his friend. Yugi handed the disc case back to his friend as he sat back down.

"Nah, it's okay, Yug," Joey pushed the case back into his friend's hand. "Keep it. It's not due back 'til tomorra anyways." The blonde grinned, "jus' make sure ya get it back b'fore they close. Late fees're a killa."

"Thanks, Joey," Yugi smiled up at his friend. "I'll try to watch it again later and make sure I return it for you."

"A'right, well I shuld be getting' back b'fore it gets too late," Joey stood from his seat. Yugi walked his friend to the front door where they said their goodbyes until the next day.

Yugi wound up falling asleep on the couch again a short while later, where he stayed until his grandfather forced him up to his own bed around midnight.

The next day continued as normal. So normal, in fact, that Yugi almost forgot about the unusual, foreboding fog that had been plaguing him.

Almost.

After school, including a particularly nasty pop quiz in his math class, he was finally able to finish watching Joey's movie while he worked the shop before dinner.

Before he knew it though, the time had passed to 9:40pm. The movie rentals store would be closing at ten. He called out his apologies to his grandfather as he grabbed the dvd, his coat, and keys. He bolted out the door and around the house to get his bike.

He didn't normally get much use out of the old thing, but the rentals store wasn't exactly close and he had to get there FAST. So he pedaled like crazy down the streets, trying to make it on time.

Yugi mentally thanked whichever god was watching that there weren't too many people out tonight. He would've hated to knock somebody over in his haste.

He screeched to a stop, dropping his bike and running to the door with the disc case held out while panting lightly. The clerk inside looked surprised. She already had her hands up, poised to flick the locks into place. After a moment she opened the door with a smile.

"You barely made it, kid. I'm guessin' that's due tonight?"

"Yeah," Yugi had about caught his breath back. "It's rented under my friend's name, Joey Wheeler." He handed the case over the counter to the clerk.

The middle-aged woman checked the disc for damage, scanned the barcode on the box, and verified it was indeed rented to one "Joey Wheeler," the blonde's smiling mug showing up on her monitor.

"Ok-ay, Cutie," she added the case to a small stack behind the counter, smiling down at Yugi. "All cleared, no late charges. Did you want to get another while you're here?"

Yugi blushed at the nickname. "No ma'am, maybe after I finish my exams. Busy week in school," he rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed.

"Alright, Honey, well you come back anytime then." She smiled brightly as she escorted Yugi to the door, locking it behind him and closing the shutters.

Yugi sighed in relief – that was close. Too close. Next time he might just have to pay the late fee on Joey's account, so he didn't nearly kill himself trying to make the deadline.

He bent down to pick up his bike and froze, completely still. He could feel a strange presence in the air, like something circling around him.

Was it dangerous?

He glanced back and forth around him as he slowly stood back up. His bike still lay on the ground; if he had to, he'd leave it there. But there was nobody there; the entire street was deserted. "Odd," he thought to himself. It wasn't THAT late. There should still be SOME people out and about.

That's when he saw it – the strange fog. It was closer than it'd ever been while he was outside. It was already covering the sidewalk across the street and creeping forward, stretching across the pavement. As he stared at it, he could see a dark mass in the center, like the heart of the fog. Again he could feel the emotions carried along with it, although they were somewhat more clear.

Whatever this thing was, it was definitely calling out to him.

But as Yugi stood there, watching this unfathomable, grey mist creep over to him, he realized he was no longer afraid of it. He had always walked quickly away, avoiding all contact with the mass.

But now that things felt more clear, he knew. There was no malice in this, this… thing. Whatever it was did not want to hurt him. It was asking something of him. Pleading. Begging. Yugi could feel it radiating from the mist and its dark center: a desire for something. A need for him. And a fear of him.

But why would this mist, or fog, or whatever, be afraid of him, and why would it openly seek him out. He'd never heard of something like this happening to anyone else. The edges of the mist were curling around his ankles now. Small tendrils wrapped themselves gently around his calves, as if in an embrace.

The whole of the mist had stopped moving. It covered nearly the whole ground in the immediate vicinity, but the dark core was centered in the middle of the street. Yugi got the distinct feeling that it was waiting for him to meet it halfway.

He took a small step forward and the mist rippled in what he could only assume was joy. With his second small step the dark center that had previously flowed along the ground, same as the rest of the vaporous mass, began to rise upward slowly. This darker misty core swirled around itself, becoming denser, opaque.

The near-solid shadowy image was now slightly taller than Yugi and resembled a cloudy event horizon from some science fiction movie. All light seemed to disappear in its wake.

Yugi continued his slow steps forward. Whatever this fog was doing, it needed him for something, and he wanted to know what.

The darkness stretched out from the middle of the mass. As it got closer the shadows thinned down into small strips.

With a gasp Yugi realized it was a hand. A human hand – stretching out from within the shadowy center of wispy clouds! The hand seemed to be stretching the fog out around from itself.

The pleading was even stronger now. Yugi couldn't deny it, whatever this was, it needed him. He couldn't just walk away now. He slowly closed the distance, raising his own hand towards the shadow. The fog around his ankles rippled and swirled. Yugi hoped he was doing the right thing.

He stretched his hand out and pressed his fingers against the shadows, surprised to find they felt solid.

At the contact a brilliant white light exploded out from around the hand, and the shadowy fog seemed to peel away, revealing solid, pale-skinned flesh. A human hand, thin-fingered; a wrist, wrapped in golden bracelets.

Yugi gaped at the sight before him. The hand had gripped his own, using it as a lifeline to pull its body out from within the shadowy bindings. His eyes grew larger, taking in the sight, welling with tears as the figure took form.

Out from the darkness, surrounded by the swirling fog, complete with his own physical body, stood Yami, still decked out in his royal garb, punctuated with gold and jewels.

He stood for only a moment, eyes closed, completely still, before heaving in one great lung full of air and collapsing into Yugi's arms.

"Ya- Yami?" Yugi whispered, unbelieving. The Egyptian leaned heavily on the young man, breathing deeply. His eyes were still closed, as if in concentration.

"Yu-gi…." He spoke hoarsely, voice cracking as if from disuse. He tilted his head up and slowly cracked open his eyes.

The brilliant crimson orbs burned into Yugi's. There was no way this could be anybody else, but how could it be real?

"Yami? It's really you?" the tears had began to fall down Yugi's cheeks, his voice hitching with the flood of emotions.

Yami was back. He was here. Yugi had no idea how, but he was overjoyed nonetheless. He pulled Yami up to embrace the taller fully.

"Y- yes, Yugi. It's me," Yami hugged his friend back as tightly as he could manage, but the ordeal of gaining a body had taken a toll on his energy. Yugi noticed and tightened his embrace a little further, making up for the other's inability to do so.

"Thank you, Yugi," Yami spoke, his head down against Yugi's shoulder. "You brought me back, Yugi. I needed you, and you were there for me, just like always. Thank you… so very much, my Aibou."

Yugi giggled lightly, pulling back to look at his newly-regained friend in the eye. "Gladly, Yami. Welcome home."

Yami just smiled warmly, still leaning onto Yugi for support.

"Now, let's get you home. Grandpa's going to be SO surprised," Yugi laughed as he helped Yami walk back to the game shop. He left his bike there in order to support his friend. He didn't care, let someone else have it. He had his best friend back.


End file.
